The Harmony of Science and Religion

At the same time, attempts to predicate scientific study on religious axioms would also be wrongheaded. Science deals with the observable and the verifiable. It attempts as much as possible to dispense with axioms, making use of only those that are required. (Even then, scientists are often uncomfortable with the axioms that remain.) Experiments are performed to gather observations and measurements that describe some aspect of how the world works or is constructed. Theories are built to provide a framework for understanding those observations and measurements. They make predictions about other kinds of natural phenomena that should be observed, and more experiments are performed to determine whether or not those predictions are borne out. It is a process of asking questions of nature and seeing how nature replies. Any assertion that cannot be tested in this way is not a part of science. That is not to say that such assertions are invalid, only that they cannot play a role in a scientific description of the universe.

Thus we see that science and religion are two different subjects, addressing different but equally important aspects of reality, and utilizing different methods to arrive at the answers. They are complementary, two sides of the coin of reality. In the Bahá'í view, there is no conflict between them.